Attachment to God in a collectivistic context and its impact on perceived stress

Introduction: Research indicates that attachment to God is correlated with parental attachment and perceived stress. However, these relationships have not been studied outside the Western context. The present research evaluated the relationship between attachment to God and attachment to parents within different family systems and the impact of these attachments on perceived stress.

Methods: A sample of 284 Christian undergraduate students in Pakistan was surveyed. The data were collected from the participants through convenience sampling. Relationships between attachment to parents, attachment to God, religiosity, and perceived stress were studied.

Results: A significant positive relationship between attachment to parents and to God was found for the nuclear family system on the anxiety subscale. For the avoidance subscale, both nuclear and joint family systems had significant positive relationships between parental attachment and attachment to God; however, it was stronger for joint family systems. The multiple regression analysis showed parental avoidance (β = .256, p <.001) and God anxiety (β = .281, p <.001) as the strongest predictors of stress.

Discussion: The findings highlight the impact of collectivistic cultural values, particularly the importance of relationships. The implications include the significance of the impact of culture on attachment relationships and the finding that attachment correlates with lower levels of perceived stress. The research also shows the difference in attachment styles depending upon the family system the participant belongs to which can again be attributed to cultural norms and values.